That fact, which a disturbing number of people in our communities don’t seem to have learned from anyone, was never more evident than it was last week when someone not only took, but posted online a video of the stabbing of a teenage girl at an Abbotsford school.

We can almost excuse the taking of the video if we squint and suppose the person didn’t know when they started filming that they were going to capture the violent death of 13-year-old Letisha Reimer. However, it’s worth noting the highly disturbing trend of bystanders, when witnessing someone being attacked or threatened, not to help, but instead to press record.

The thing is, though the taker of the video may not have known at the time what they had, they certainly knew afterwards when they posted it to the internet for their 15 minutes of fame.

It is a truly despicable act that we only wish held some sort of penalty.

To the video taker: did you think for one moment beyond your own selfish desires when you decided to post your vile snuff film where this young teenager’s family and friends would inevitably be confronted with it?

Instead of contacting the police and letting them know you had possible evidence in a tragic homicide, you decided to post your video online for entertainment.

Only this isn’t a film or television show where the actors will get up and wash the blood away. One has to wonder, do you know the difference? Do you care?

This isn’t like the people in the United States who have posted videos of police officers shooting black Americans in suspect circumstances. There is no question of exposing some kind of injustice, which seems too bizarre to be real unless we see the evidence with our own eyes.

And what about the viewers? Some of those reading this editorial may be among them.

To them, we’d like to say, you have a choice before you click. You should take a long look inside yourself and take some time to think next time you are tempted to watch something of this ilk. Why did you watch it? What were you hoping to get out of it, and did you get what you wanted?

The video would be nothing without the viewers. Just by clicking you are supporting it and encouraging others like it in the future.